GOOD CHEER

By Ann Boulton

Colin and Jonathan Cheer made it a family affair when second placed Boston inflicted the first defeat of the season on Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League leaders Bracebridge Heath.
After Boston had won the toss at the Mayflower Ground and invited their opponents to bat, Colin was first up, dismissing four of the top six visiting batsmen with the top three all clean bowled. From 100 for seven, Jonathan Darke and Ashley Schultz steadied the innings with a stand of 66 and the final wicket fell on 182 in the 50th over.
Matt Bradley took a wicket on 19 but by the time the second fell Boston had 99 on the board and Matthew Poole joined Jonathan Cheer to take the home side to an eight wicket victory with six overs to spare, Cheer finishing with 128.
However, Bracebridge still have a comfortable 40 point lead while Boston gained just one point on third place Bourne who are now 11 behind in third following a 38 run victory over Louth at Abbey Lawn. The visitors were all out for 164 chasing their hosts’ 202 for eight. Fahad Masood claiming five wickets to take his total for the season to 45.
Grimsby now share fourth place with Sleaford after both successfully chased runs on their home tracks.
At Augusta Street, Lindum made 224 for 5, Richard Bishop and Geoff Middleton hitting half centuries. But Grimsby were also on good batting form with 50s from Richard Antcliffe, Neal Snell and Harry Warwick who top scored with 58 not out as his side claimed a seven wicket win.
The highest scoring game of the day was at Sleaford where Market Deeping blasted 260 for seven, Josh Bowers just missing out on a century with a knock of 97. But Oliver Burford made not mistake with his ton, hitting an unbeaten 113 with Matthew Mountain making 67 to give their side a six wicket victory.
Deeping are now sixth but only two points behind while Hartsholme moved up to seventh with a resounding win at Woodhall. Warren Nel’s 127 and Henry Rush with 53 saw the visitors to 244 for seven before the home side were reduced to 12 for six and were eventually bowled out for 67.
This left Woodhall further behind in 11th place after Skegness beat bottom side Nettleham by 10 wickets, Tony Santini taking five and Peter Houghton hitting 67.

RESULTS
Nettleham 101 (Santini 5-12), Skegness 105-0 (Houghton 67no); Bourne 202-8 (Hopkins 59), Louth 164 (Shiroman 56, Masood 5-60); Bracebridge Heath 182 (C Cheer 5-78), Boston 183-2 (J Cheer 128no); Market Deeping 260-7 (Bowers 97), Sleaford 263-4 (Burford 113no, Mountain 67); Lindum 224-5 (Bishop 52, Middleton 52), Grimsby 225-3 (Antcliffe 51, Snell 50, Warwick 58no); Hartsholme 244-7 (Nel 127, Rush 53), Woodhall Spa 67.

HOW THEY STAND
P W L Draw Ab/Can Bat Bowl Win Draw Ab/Can Total
Bracebridge Heath 15 10 1 1 3 58 54 100 9 21 242
Boston 15 7 3 4 1 46 52 70 26 8 202
Bourne 15 7 5 2 1 47 56 70 10 8 191
Grimsby 15 7 5 1 1 47 47 70 7 8 179
Sleaford 15 6 6 2 1 55 40 60 16 8 179
Market Deeping 15 5 3 5 2 53 45 50 13 16 177
Hartsholme 15 3 3 6 3 51 42 30 24 21 168
Louth 15 4 6 3 2 45 47 40 19 16 167
Skegness 15 4 5 4 2 48 39 40 26 13 166
Lindum 15 5 7 1 2 34 46 50 9 16 155
Woodhall Spa 15 3 7 4 1 39 42 30 12 8 131
Nettleham 15 0 8 3 3 24 22 0 9 21 76